


Spellbound

by Cmd_Lauren_Shepard



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M, Foreplay, Romantic Fluff, Sexy, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-12
Updated: 2016-09-12
Packaged: 2018-08-14 16:52:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8021662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cmd_Lauren_Shepard/pseuds/Cmd_Lauren_Shepard
Summary: At camp, Sten tries to help Alistair remove his armor after a battle. But Alistair's in pain and being extra difficult. Luckily, Lumethe Surana, the Warden Mage who is not-so-secretly in love with Alistair, arrives in the nick of time to help out. Sten leaves the two alone for a romantic interlude by the stream.This off-camera sexy build-up happens just after Alistair finds his half-sister and before the Warden shares her tent with him. I hope this story leaves you feeling giddy and hot all at once, and ready to move on to some serious, full-tent smut elsewhere. :)Some of the dialog near the very end is the same or nearly the same as the game's romance dialog, so copyright credit for those in-character lines goes to Dragon Age: Origins lead writer, David Gaider.





	Spellbound

Alistair sat cross-legged on the bank of the stream just outside the main camp. He winced sharply as Sten's thick fingers slipped from the leather bindings, thudding into a tender bruise on his shoulder. "Oww!"

The corner of Sten’s lips turned upward ever so slightly, and for a moment, Alistair thought he detected the hint of a smirk on the Qunari’s stoic face. One of the bindings was stuck – caked with the dried blood of a back-alley thug, which Alistair had been splattered with earlier that day. It felt like an eternity had passed since they had started removing his armor, and Alistair was getting antsy. He desperately wanted – no needed – to see her again.

"Seriously, Sten. Were you born with clubs for fingers?" Alistair snapped. The Templar and the Qunari warrior tolerated each other, but just barely. Alistair’s wisecracks irritated Sten, while Sten’s grave mannerisms put Alistair on edge. Without the threat of the Darkspawn overshadowing the kingdom of Ferelden, the two would probably have never become allies. Desperate times had brought unlikely companions together.

Sten grumbled a response, though his volume hardly increased. "You whine like a puppy being weaned.” The phase came out awkwardly, a clumsy translation of a Qunari idiom.

Clumsy or not, it managed to piss off Alistair, who batted the warrior's hand away. Alistair, normally a bit of a jester, was unbearably irritable today. After years of dreaming of a happy reunion, he had finally found his half-sister, only to discover she was completely selfish and full of bitterness. She wanted nothing to do with Alistair and blamed him for their mother's death. Their mother died birthing Alistair, and although he could understand the anger and pain she must have felt over losing her mother, he certainly hadn't expected her to be such a hag about it.

What he had imagined was that they'd embrace, she would have him and his companions over for dinner, and her children would crowd around to hear stories of Uncle Al's adventures. Instead, she demanded payment from him for the years of pain and suffering his birth had caused her.

It ripped his heart open all over again to re-enact the day's events in his head. Why couldn't he be tougher in matters of the heart? Frustrated with himself, he sighed as his chin sank sullenly into his hands. A leaf swirled idly in the shallows below, trapped between submerged twigs. Lost in his cloudy thoughts, he watched the leaf as it spun aimlessly about on the surface.

Sten rumbled something in Qunari and crossed his massive bronze-toned arms across his chest.

"Alistair?" came a honey voice from behind them. His heart leapt. _Thank the Maker – she had come to find him._

He turned his head in anticipation, just to watch her close the distance between them. Her silhouette eclipsed the pink-orange sun of the waning day, pointy elven ears a stark contrast to her otherwise curvy figure. He had never really found elves very attractive until he met her, but damn, was she gorgeous. A realization struck him, explaining at least some of his irritability – he had missed seeing her, if even for a few short hours they were apart.

Lumethe was dressed in blue enchanter's robes, which fit snug against her figure. Those curvy hips seem to beg for him to grab hold and pull her close. If only Sten weren't there he would have jumped to his feet and embraced her, but the two Wardens were trying to keep their relationship discreet. Instead, he sat woozily on the bank of the stream, and wished hard to the Maker that Sten would just get the fuck out of here already.

"Sten," Lumethe said, nodding a greeting to the warrior. Her silvery hair was aglow with copper-pink sunlight.

"It's good you arrived," Sten said in a low monotone, shaking his head disapprovingly at Alistair. "I can't take any more of him. He's whined the entire time I've tried helping."

“I should have made haste, I see,” Lumethe replied, her voice failing to hide her amusement.

"With all your magics, I find it hard to believe you have nothing to make him man up a bit," Sten continued. “He’s all yours, Warden.” And with a final grunt, Sten trudged back toward the main camp, leaving the two Wardens on their own.

"I wasn't whining all the time," Alistair said defensively, once Sten was out of earshot.

Lumethe grinned wryly, knowing all too well Alistair's version of the story was not true. “You do it just to get under his skin, don’t you?”

Alistair pouted boyishly at her.

"How about if I give you a hand with your armor, then." Most of the pieces had already been removed with Sten's help, so he sat there on the bank in his undergarments, with exception to the troublesome chest piece. His body was fit, muscular – so tempting. Her gaze lingered on his sculpted arms, wishing they would just take hold of her already.

Shifting her glance to his face, she knew that she had been caught admiring him. His doeskin eyes shone back at her, that longing gaze tugging at her heart. As his eyes drew her in, he reached out and gently pulled her down beside him. Over the burbling whisper of the stream, she was now close enough to hear his breathing. It was hot and heavy, and the sound of his lust made her heart pound in her throat. She knelt there beside him, feeling the heat of his thigh radiating through her robes. Maker, she wanted to jump him right there. Time dilated around them, and she could have easily moved in on the former Templar.

But no – she reluctantly resisted the temptation to smother him in a passionate kiss. Instead, she coyly withdrew, averting her eyes to the buckle Sten had been working at earlier. "Ah, I see there's just some blood binding the buckle to the leather," she explained, her voice barely above a whisper. It was important to her that Alistair be the one to make the first move.

Lumethe knew she was the first person he had ever been romantically involved with. After an amusing conversation, with much embarrassed laughter on Alistair's part, he explained to her that he was still a virgin. His previous contact with women had been limited to the sisters of the cloister. Because of this, he often felt awkward and insecure around the opposite sex.

Alistair watched in silence as Lumethe took nearby a rag and grabbed the bottle of polishing oil. A few dabs with the oil-soaked rag melted the solidified blood. Her fingers, more nimble then Sten's, managed to free the buckle in only a few moments. The chest piece and quilted jacket beneath were released, allowing her hand to swipe purposefully across his bare chest. His body shivered under her touch. A pleasurable tingle splashed through his entire body and he involuntarily gasped for air.

A primal instinct overtook him. He grasped those high elven cheekbones and drew her face towards his. Touching her soft skin made his heart explode, sending sparks of warmth to all of his extremities. The two of them, human and elf, melted into a deep and passionate kiss. A moan escaped him as he felt her hot tongue pressed longingly into his. The time felt so right. He felt anxious about his inexperience and yet, he yearned with all his body and soul to please her.

As they kissed, his thoughts raced. He thought about how happy she made him, despite everything. Despite the Darkspawn, the evil that now threatened the world. Despite her being an elf, the underprivileged race that most humans treated like second-class citizens. Or her being a mage, or even her being a fellow Grey Warden. Despite everything that should have kept them apart, he had fallen deeply and madly in love with her.

Alistair thought it an odd twist of fate that the first woman that had won his heart turned out to be a mage. As a Templar he had been trained that mages were a danger to everyone, including themselves – that they could wield with their bare hands unfathomable powers, and were weak to the temptations invoked by these powers. At the Chantry he had trained to hunt down and kill mages that were unlawfully practicing magic outside the Circle of Magi, the tower in which the mages were forced to reside. His Knight Commanders had taught him many ways to subdue mages and to dispel their magic, and yet now he had allowed himself to become entirely enchanted by one.

To tell the truth, he would have been a shitty Templar. He was glad that Duncan had recruited him to be a Grey Warden instead. Since he had met Lumethe, he questioned how much of what he had learned at the Chantry was true. She was very much in control of her powers, and had proven her moral integrity and willpower on numerous occasions since they had traveled together as companions. And she was a powerful ally against the Darkspawn.

As Grey Wardens, they were responsible for protecting the world from these evil creatures, which were now advancing across Ferelden from the south. Lumethe was the only other Grey Warden left in their kingdom, Alistair her senior by only a short time. Their first mission together as Wardens came just hours after she had successfully passed the Joining Ceremony and thus entered the ranks of the Wardens. It was the night that Duncan, the Warden that had recruited both of them, had perished fighting the Darkspawn horde.

Duncan had very quickly became a mentor and father figure to Alistair, and the older Warden’s death had crushed him. Alistair worried that he had lost Lumethe that night too, and though he wasn't in love with her then, he had quickly grown fond of her playful nature. Lumethe was there for him after Duncan had been murdered. She helped him through his grief and talked him out of a very dark place – something she continually did. Today, she had been there when his half-sister stomped all over his heart.

"Lumethe?" he breathed, pulling himself out of of the path of memories his mind had wandered down. His need was urgent – he wanted to tell her how deeply he loved her.

"Mmm?" she replied, reluctantly withdrawing her lips to answer.

"Look, I..." he pulled away and started nervously, then paused. He wanted to tell her just the right thing, but he was improvising at the moment. It made him incredibly anxious to tell her these things unrehearsed, but he continued. And although he could feel her gaze fixed upon his face, he was too nervous to look into her eyes. Instead, he clasped her fingertips in his hand and stared intently at them. "I wanted to thank you for talking me down after what happened with my sister today. I was just thinking of how many times you've been there for me. I am a very lucky man."

"I'm glad I could be there for you...Ali," she tested out the nickname on him, her voice softening.

Ali. It sounded like music to his ears. He could get used to her saying that more often, and felt a flush of hot passion pulsing through him.

Lumethe's sharp elven eyes saw tiny beads of sweat beginning to well up, making his skin glisten. Could she nudge him just a bit to make that first move? In silent answer to her own musing, she cocked her head with intrigue and smiled. "Are you sweating?" she asked.

"No!" he said defensively. "Well, I...I mean," he stammered, "well, yes," he sighed. He ran his fingers through the back of his hair in an attempt to soothe his nerves. "Oh, how do I say this." he began again. "It's just that," he paused, breathing in deeply as he composed his feelings into words.

Lumethe waited in suspense.

"It's just that every time I'm around you I feel as if my head's going to explode," he continued, gesturing with his hands for added emphasis. "I can't think straight."

"And I feel the same about you," Lumethe replied, her voice nearly ethereal.

"Hopefully not the head exploding part," Alistair quipped back, his eyes lighting up as they both chuckled. Her silver-blue orbs danced flirtatiously, but he became serious again.

"Here's the thing,” he started again. “Being near you makes me..." he sucked in a breath, only to exhale the next word word passionately "...crazy. But I can't imagine being without you. Not ever."

Lumethe sighed, her heart throbbing again as his hands caressed her fingertips. She could barely find air to breathe, let alone say anything, so she allowed him to carry on.

"Maybe this is moving too fast, but, well, I know what I feel. I could wait for the perfect time, the perfect place, but when will things ever be perfect for us? This is the least perfect time, and yet I found myself falling for you in between all the fighting and everything else. I just want to..." again he stopped and closed his eyes as if calculating exactly what he should say.

In the pause that followed, Lumethe guided his hand into her cleavage and pressed it against her heart. Through his fingertips he felt it pounding. She looked at him longingly and he knew he needn't say more. The realization that this gorgeous, intelligent woman desired him sent a new surge of passion throughout his entire body.

"Maker's breath, I want you," he whispered, falling in to meet her soft, eager lips with unbridled fervor. His hand slid from her cleavage and dove toward her breast, making her gasp in pleasure. As her tongue glided against his, his confidence grew. Despite his inexperience, he took the initiative and gently guided her back against a nearby tree, and coaxed the bulge that had sprung up to please her against her thigh. His lips parted from hers to nibble at the sweet spot of her neck.

Lumethe allowed herself to be backed against the tree by Alistair. The bulge that pulsed and grew against her thigh set her heart madly ablaze. She couldn't help herself and with a naughty smile said, "I certainly feel what I do to you." 

He let out a muffled chortle as he nibbled and kissed her, moving downward toward her cleavage. The stubble on his face tickled and sent a shiver of electricity through her. She guided his throbbing bulge towards the center of the electricity in her body, the hot spot between her legs, already wet in the hopes that Alistair would fill her.

He moaned, sucking in a passionate breath as their bodies met intimately. "I love you...madly," he whispered.

It made her woozy. "And I love you," she whispered back. They were still touching against each other and she lingered there, swooning at how thick and full he felt against her body. "But we have to stop now. You know that Leilana will come fetch us for dinner soon."

"You're a tease. But you're right," he sighed in response, allowing her to push him off of her. In an effort to cool himself down, he began gathering his armor and equipment. All the while, she watched – and that made him warm inside to feel her gaze upon him. Once he had gathered the final piece of equipment – the chest piece she had peeled off of him earlier – he stared back at her and cocked his head to the side inquisitively. "What if I join you...in your tent...tonight?" he asked hopefully. "I can't wait any longer. I want to make love to you. I want to make you happy."

What he said was sweet and sexy all at once, and her heart jumped again. "I thought you'd never ask," she teased. "Come to my tent tonight, Ali. Make me happier than you already do.” She flashed him a playful grin before turning away, starting back toward the campfire where the others would undoubtedly be wondering what they'd been up to for so long.

"I am indeed a lucky man," Alistair said giddily as he followed behind her.


End file.
